" "Thou art a babbler!" exclaimed
Nimrod. "I worship the fire, and will cast thee into it. Perchance the
God whom thou dost adore will deliver thee from thence." Abraham was
accordingly thrown into a heated furnace, but God saved him.[94]
[94] After Abraham had walked to and fro unscathed amidst the
fierce flames for three days, the faggots were suddenly
transformed into a blooming garden of roses and
fruit-trees and odoriferous plants.--This legend is
introduced into the Kuran, and Muslim writers, when they
expatiate on the almighty power of Allah, seldom omit to
make reference to Nimrod's flaming furnace being turned
into a bed of roses.
* * * * *
Alexander the Great is said to have wept because there were no more
worlds for him to conquer; and truly says the sage Hebrew King, "The
grave and destruction can never have enough, nor are the eyes of man
ever satisfied" (Prov. xxvii, 20), a sentiment which the following tale,
or parable, is designed to exemplify:
_The Vanity of Ambition._
Pursuing his journey through dreary deserts and uncultivated ground,
Alexander came at last to a small rivulet, whose waters glided
peacefully along their shelving banks. Its smooth, unruffled surface was
the image of contentment, and seemed in its silence to say, "This is the
abode of tranquility.
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